The Lovers Survivors

6. Lost Child

Leighton takes the child's shirt off and applies CPR. Julian watches him nervously, thinking that the little boy is lucky that he's a nurse. If he was alone, he could never save the child. At that moment, he regretted not to have taken any first aid courses.

"Come on, little man," Leighton says breathlessly. "You can do it." He applies chest compressions and uses all the strength he has left.

The child suddenly coughs and gasps for air. Leighton helps him sit down and runs his fingers in his wet air, "Are you alright?"

The child nods and takes a breath before he looks at the nurse. He widens his eyes when he recognizes the young man from the plane. He looks around and frowns when he realizes he's surrounded by trees and sands. "Where are we?" he asks with a small voice.

Leighton sighs and clears his throat, "We...we don't know."

Julian presses his lips and lies his legs on the sand. "We're in the middle of nowhere," he says.

The child looks at him with surprise, "Are you, Julian Evans?"

Julian nods his head, "It's me. Well, what's left of me." he scoffs.

Leighton rolls his eyes and sits next to the child. He smiles to him and extends his arm, "I'm Leighton."

The child smiles shyly and shakes his hand, "I'm Julian."

Leighton looks at the actor who’s staring at the child with disgust and exploded with laughter. The child looks at the actor and smiles to him, "My mum is a fan of you, she watched all your movies, and that's why she named me Julian."

"How original." Julian rolls his eyes.

The child looks at the sea and sighs, "Where is my mum?"

Leighton presses his lips and looks down. He finds it hard to comfort the child because he doesn't know what's better for him, tell him the truth or invent an improbable lie.

"Is she dead?" the child starts crying. Leighton and Julian share a nervous look and the nurse hurries to take the little boy in his arms, "We don't know Jules. But don't lose fate." he smiles.

The actor cringes. He looks at Leighton weirdly for cutely saying his name. He shakes his head and looks away. He presses his lips and realizes not many people call him that way, aside from Ed.

Most people who surround him work for him or are family. They address him formally and his parents simply call him by his name, and sometimes they just don't call him at all.

"My mum must be looking for me," the child mumbles. "I miss her."

Leighton smiles sadly and kisses his head. "We're going to look for her once we leave from here don't worry."

"When are we leaving?" little Julian looks at Leighton with his innocent eyes.

Leighton gulps and rubs the back of his neck, "I'm sure soon." he laughs nervously.

Julian scoffs and shakes his head.

"Now let's go hide from the sun." Leighton helps the child stand up. "You must be hungry, we'll get you something to eat."

"No, you will get him something," Julian says. "I'm going to take a nap, I'm tired."

"Tired as if you even do something." Leighton frowns. "I'm the one who does everything here."

The child watches them bickering and raises an eyebrow, "Are you friends?" he asks.

"Friends?" Julian scoffs. "With this guy? No, thanks, no."

Leighton rolls his eyes, "I can't be friends with people like him," he mumbles. "Don't worry Jules, you and I can be friends."

"Stop saying my name like this!" the actor looks at him with disgust."

Leighton frowns, "Excuse me, but that's his name too." he puts his hands on the child's shoulders. "If you don't like hearing it, you can change your name." he walks away with the little boy, leaving Julian nagging behind.

The things in the Evans mansion are worsening. The reporters don't leave the gates, and Parker Evans is losing his patience. He paces in the living room, sending death glares to his son's manager. ‘It's your fault’, he keeps repeating.

"You're the one who sent him to the Maldives alone!" Parker shouts. "He could have taken the private jet. He has his pilot, his crew, why would you send him in that plane?!"

"Sir, he was the one who asked me to book him a ticket," says Edward.

"Why didn't you go with him then?" Parker walked closer to him.

"I had a meeting with the movie director."

Parker crosses his arms, "A manager should never leave the artist alone."

Edward sighs and looks away. He takes a breath for a moment before he looks back at Parker, "Sir, me being with him wouldn't have changed anything. The plane was going to explode anyways."

Parker can't take it anymore. He slaps him and screams, "You don't talk to me this way! Have some respect! Do you forget who I am?!"

Edward rubs his cheeks and shakes his head, "No, sir. I'm sorry."

"You can eat that sorry," Parker mutters, "Do you know how embarrassing it is for me? My son is one of the passengers among commoners. The other CEOs must be laughing at our family now. Parker Evans sent his son in a regular plane. I'm the joke of the century now."

Edward frowns and shakes his head slowly. He looks away and tries to forget what he just heard.

He feels bad for Julian, his parents don't even care about his safety or his health. The only thing they care about is their reputation and what other rich people say about them.

Parker and his wife have never treated Julian like their son, they have only treated him as a member of the Evans Corporation. Julian only represents the image of the company, he's only a face, not a personality.

"We had to embarrass ourselves at the NIS." Parker continues. "We had to speak with the director to insist on finding Julian."

"There are other lost passengers like Julian," Edward says. "They must be looking for them all."

Parker frowns and lifts Edward's chin, "Listen well, you don't call my son by his first name, and don't forget he's not just anyone. He's the heir of Evans Corporation," he fakes a smile. "I'm only keeping you here because of my late brother because he was good to me after all. It's not my fault that his life hadn't been successful like mine."

Edward clenches his fists and decides to stay silent because the consequences won't be nice if he ever talks back to his uncle.

His father, David Evans was the first heir of the company when it still belonged to their father. He could have been the CEO, but he fell in love with a beautiful woman. The problem was that her family wasn't rich, her parents and little brothers were living in a small house, and she was the only one working to feed her family.

Later, David had to give up on his title because his family forbade him to marry her. He cared less about the money and the success, he only wanted to live a happy and peaceful life with his lover.

When Edward was fifteen, his father died from stress because of his family. Everyone ignored him after he got married, no one wanted to talk to him and even refused to help him during his hardest times.

It wasn't easy for Edward to live with his mother. She lost her job and he was getting tired. After he graduated from high school, she begged

him to go talk to his uncle and ask him for help.

She couldn't pay the college fees and she refused to see her son at home while other young people were studying.

Edward went to see his uncle against his will. He felt bad because he saw the pity in his eyes. He only accepted him in his family because he doesn't want other people to see him in a bad way, not because he loved his brother.

Edward was able to go to college and study management. Later, he started working for his cousin, Julian.

He never saw his mother since that day, he only knows that she went back to live with his grandparents. He wished he could go to see her, but Parker forbade him from doing so as Julian’s manager is followed everywhere by the media and he doesn't want them to find out that they have relations with commoners.

Now, he's blamed for his son's accident and disappearance. He has been working for his family for years, and all he has done was to help Julian from avoiding scandals and rumours. That's how he's being paid.

Tyler's sweating while leafing through the menu card. Even water is too expensive for him.

"What's going on?" Archer chuckles, "You look pale."

"I'm naturally pale." Tyler mumbles.

Archer laughs, "I mean paler than you already are. Is something wrong? Don't you like meat? Are you vegetarian or something?"

Tyler shakes his head and presses his lips. He closes the menu and looks at Archer with an annoyed face, "I'm not vegetarian, I love meat."

"So, what?"

"So, I'm freaking broke."

Archer smiles and reopens Tyler's menu card, "Order whatever you want, I told you that I'm inviting you."

Tyler presses his lips and looks back at the menu, "I don't know, order something for me. I'm not used to fancy food and drinks."

Archer smiles again and nods, "Alright, I'll order for you. Don't worry, I have good taste."

"Really?" Tyler chuckles.

"Yes," Archer crosses his arms, "I have good taste in everything." he bites his lower lip and chuckles. He keeps looking at Tyler and wonders who he is. He watches him looking at the people around, he sees the way they are dressed and he listens to what they are talking about. He watches him compare his work's uniform to the fancy suits and shoes, he watches him hide his old sneakers under the table and run his fingers through his hair to fix it.

He sees low self-esteem, sadness, and hard feelings in his heart. He wonders who Tyler Wright is, he's curious to know.